The present invention relates to a cassette tape recorder in which the setting and ejection of a tape cassette may be facilitated, and the eject, fast-forward or rewinding mode may be selected by one lever.
As disclosed for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,316 there has been devised and demonstrated a cassette tape recorder of the type in which when a tape cassette is placed into a loading mechanism, it pushes the free ends of two crossed arms to cause the rotation thereof so that when the arms are rotated through a predetermined angle, the cassette tape is placed in the operative position with the tape being pressed against the capstans and holes of the reels in engagement with the spindles. The tape recorder of this type has an advantage that even when the cassette is placed into the loading mechanism in slight misalignment with the correct cassette placing direction, the insertion of the cassette into the loading mechanism may be detected without fail. That is, when the cassette makes contact with either of the two arms, it so controls cassette guide means that the cassette may be placed in exact position in the loading mechanism. However, due to the above operative arrangement of the loading mechanism, there is a distinct defect in that the thickness of the cassette guide means cannot be made substantially equal to that of the cassette and consequently it is impossible to make the thickness or height of the cassete tape recorder shorter beyond a certain limit.
Furthermore, in the conventional cassette tape recorders, a magnet is attached to a spindle while a reed switch is mounted on a chassis plate in the proximity of the spindle so that the end of the tape may be detected. However, the inspection and replacement of the reed switch mounted on the chassis plate are not easy, and there is a danger that other parts are damaged when the broken reed switch is detached from the chassis plate and a new reed switched is mounted.
The conventional cassette tape recorders have a further common defect that when the switching from the fast-forward mode to the rewinding mode or vice versa is made too rapidly, there is a possibility that the tape is broken.